Brandon Pettigrew

A lot of people were upset with this pick from the Lions in the 2009 draft at #20 overall. A Tight End when people wanted that offensive tackle still sitting there in Michael Oher who is the popular pick because every loves his attitude and determination. A great story of coming up hard and willing himself to be good enough to get to the NFL rather than be robbing Outer Banks homes, or some other silly troubles.

I wasn't particularly upset at all actually. I rather liked the pick. The guy was by far the best TE int he draft and we haven't had a real TE in decades. Waht I liked most about him wasn't that he was an offensive catching threat, but that he is a superb blocker in both the run and pass game. He becomes more or less a dual threat for the team. A guy that can move the chains as a safety valve because he does have those skills too, but more importantly a guy that can move defenders out of the way in the run game as well (Pettigrew started 45 of 47 games at Oklahoma State, recording 216 knockdowns with 30 touchdown-resulting blocks).

I could talk about Pettigrew all day, but the draft report at CBS.com for him is superb. I found the "Game Analysis" sections particularly interesting as it gives a brief recap of his performance in every game he played.